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Thursday, June 2, 2011

Still in Rhyl...and Welcome Elder Harris!

The Woodward Family. Fiona is in the middle, her husband Stanley is next to me.

Football with Liam and his buddies.

Hellooo!

First of all lets take a look at the date... June 2nd? That's crazy talk. We are already almost half way through this year...time is a flying!

It has been a great week and a half, a lot has been going on! First of all, after transfers I am still here in Rhyl for another six weeks! Elder Corbin has since departed to Rossendale Valley to serve with an Elder from Spain (he's ecstatic about that).

My new companion is Elder Harris! He is from Nephi, Utah. Elder Harris and I actually came out together! We have been good friends since the MTC, and were not expecting to serve together any time soon but, hey things change! And this time for the better! So we are excited to work together.

Speaking of Elder Corbin, it was sad to see him go. We are good friends and he is a remarkable missionary, it was so great to train him and see him progress so quickly.

Update on Kirsty:

We taught her the Restoration again this past week. She has been drifting and seeming to not take it as serious over the past couple of weeks. So we felt the need to help her understand the Restoration once more. She brought up a concern, saying, "I feel like I haven't gained as much faith as I thought I would with all these meetings I am having with you." We responded telling her that we are not her source of faith. Our lessons are simply a template to what she needs to live by in order to gain the faith that she desires. We asked her questions about her reading and praying. She said it hasn't been going as well as she would like. So we made a huge emphasis on how she will gain faith. We went over how vital it is to study the scriptures and how that will spark her faith and sustain it.

She re-committed, and is doing better but it is still up to her. If she gives heed to our commitments then she will see her faith build. If not she wont. Plain and simple. We made that clear to her. It was a bold lesson, but one that she needed.

Update on Liam:

Liam is doing really well! We've had some very bold lessons with him this past week and he has responded very well. We taught him also about gaining a testimony. He feels that he can't believe in God because of the bad things that have happened to him. But he always brings up, "But I want to be a better person, I want to be like the people at your church." We always tie in that it is not a random fact that they all seem "happy." It is because they have gained a testimony of the gospel and have applied it in their lives.

But we continue to see him regularly, and he has come a long way since the first time we met him! We also took him out on the football pitch...and he worked us. At his age of 40, he still has all the footie tricks. Made us look like school children. It was good laugh!

We also had sports day this past Wednesday! It was a grand ole time! Elder Corbin put on a show on the basketball court, it was good to see...

This week in District meeting it was my choice. We trained on four principles that are a part in "Building Up Zion." The four are Love, Work, Self-Reliance, and Consecration. The one that I touched mostly upon was "consecration." We went over how it is the process of "becoming", a principle of sacrificing our wills for the sake of the will of God. As missionaries this is what we are all about. We are not about our own work, we are "on the Lords errand," doing his work, his way. Obedience ties in directly to consecration. We have been given guidelines as missionaries that we must follow. They are rules for the benefit of receiving spiritual promptings. Because if we are not living worthy of the spirit, then we have no choice but to rely upon ourselves to see success, which does not happen!

I have gained a testimony of consecration. I know that it is the only way in which we can enjoy real happiness. Our Heavenly father wants us to enjoy blessings, but they must come through obedience. Which comes through following His will, and His ways. I know that commandments are an act of love, and that they do not restrict, but set us free from things that will be harmful. I know that I am on the Lords errand, and I know that he magnifies me in this work.

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Manchester, England

Manchester, England

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